Menu

WEIRDO’WEEN #07: THE EVIL DEAD [1981]

There’s really nothing like relaxing at the cottage during summer break with your friends, is there? The cool air and the feeling of being away from society really feels good once in a while. The best, in my opinion, is when you put a CD [or plug your iPod in] on and listen to the music and really take it in.. At least, it’s nice as long as you don’t play an audio book that’s playing a passage from the Book of the Dead! That’s what happens in today’s movie review, where five friends find unspeakable evil lurking in the forest around them. They find a tome bound in skin called the “Necronomicon“, and the taped translation of the text inside. Once they play the tape, the evil is then released. One by one, these teenagers are possessed, [by the book] with only one remaining. It’s up to him to survive the night and battle The Evil Dead.

Like most – if not all – of the movies I review on here, I chose this movie because it falls under the category of “films I enjoy”. It’s a classic Man VS Zombie film, but be warned; it’s an extremely gory film. [almost over the top gory] It was made back in the early 80’s, so what do you expect? Most horror movies from this era were over the top, and that’s what made them so good! What’s interesting is that with horror films that are made now-a-days, Directors don’t seem to care about the material that they are filming, and that is because they don’t write their own stories. [the ones that do are few and far between!] They do someone else’s work. But not The Evil Dead. This was Raimi‘s money maker from the beginning. When this movie was made, he was unknown, with no pressure to make a great film and they did it.. on an incredibly low budget of only $50 000. Meaning, that Raimi could stick to his vision for The Evil Dead, but had to find innovative ways to do it. The small budget didn’t allow a lot of special effects so they had to rely on what they knew. That, was how to create atmosphere using the camera. And this film is one of the absolute best at doing that.

There is one scene in this film, near the very beginning scenes where the cast first arrives at the cabin. We see a long shot of the cabin with very eerie music playing softly, and it increasingly gets louder. This shows the cabin as being menacing, letting you know that there is evil inside that cabin; and that we are in for a hell of a ride – because we’re going inside.

The film also has many shocking scenes which show us that they never planned on holding back anything. An example of this, is the infamous getting raped by trees scene which – at a time – was very unsettling and scary! [The film was banned for awhile because of this!] We also get to see people getting hacked to pieces and a few heads get chopped off, with over the top blood and gore everywhere! This film is all about stylistic fear, and that adds to the creep-factor. This movie probably wouldn’t be as scary if Sam Raimi wasn’t behind the camera. If this film isn’t for you because of the lack of budget , you should check out Evil Dead 2 – from 1987 – it’s the sequel [that isn’t really a sequel] to this film that gives a better story-arc of what’s going on, and more of a budget is given this time around!

But, one of the most terrifying scenes [even if it could be considered a jump-scare] is when all the characters are inside the cabin, and they know something isn’t right, and one of the girls is standing beside the window while the other 2 girls are playing cards trying to guess each others cards and the girl standing by the window guesses all the cards correctly, turns around and we find out she’s a zombie [Deadite?] and immediately starts attacking everyone! The first time I watched this, I was genuinely shocked – I wasn’t ready for that! I don’t think anyone was!

In short, the atmosphere and noticeably cheap effects may turn-off your typical horror film fanatics, but anyone that has a sense of adventure and has high tolerance for [over the top] gore will be reasonably pleased – if not greatlyimpressed – by Raimi and Campbell‘s first effort at a horror film. It’s one of, if not my favorite in the zombie genre, not only for it’s repeated viewings but also for the film’s extra features. [how else would you find out that the white contacts that the Deadites wear were actually blinding the actors? Making it impossible to see!]

So now the question remains: do you fall under the category of enjoying the low budget splatter fest film that isThe Evil Dead? What is it about over the top gore that makes it so appealing? Let me know in a comment or two below! Also, if you have an idea for the nextweirdo’ween review please let me know which movie[s]you want to see next! If you found yourself to enjoy this particular review – and want to see more – then take a minute and follow me over on my Facebook page[it’s at over 120+ likes almost at 130!] By clicking that “like” button, you’ll see every post from warrenisweird the very moment it’s been posted online; as well as links to articles and pictures/videos that will not be featured here on the blog. Every “like” helps me a ton, giving me the ability to write more posts for you to read, so be sure to tell the horror enthusiast in your life to do the same, and share The Facebook Page with your family and friends! Join me tomorrow when I talk about weirdo’ween #08! STAY TUNED!

as someone with a fear of clowns, those makeup effects are terrifying!